A prominent social media blogger and influencer has said the social media obsession among youth is a growing problem contributing to social isolation and mental health issues.

Alice Fairweather , who writes the lifestyle blog ‘Zest of Alice’, said: “We’re all competing for who has the better life on social media, instead of expressing how we’re feeling through talking.

“It’s really hard not to get wrapped up in the world of social media because in this day and age it’s just habit.”

In early October, a nationwide survey conducted by The University of Manchester and BBC Radio 4 identified young people between the age of 16 and 24 to be the loneliest age group.

The social media programme leader at the University of Sunderland Jenny Wotherspoon, has also addressed social media’s effects on the mental health of young adults. Jenny said:

“It’s not necessarily to do with how isolated they actually are, but how isolated they believe themselves to be when they’re looking at often false portrayals of people they know and go to school with.”

She has also identified an alternate perspective where social media can also help some young adults and relieve their loneliness:

“Social media does help to connect people, and for some young people it’s stopped them feeling as lonely as it’s given them a network of others with similar interests – or similar worries.”